Monday, August 22, 2011

Swimmers On The American

My hometown of Sacramento is bounded by two major rivers: the American and Sacramento Rivers. The American River comes down from the Sierra Nevada mountains east of Sacramento. It flows through massive granite rocks as it gets closer to the city. These are perfect diving platforms for young swimmers during our hot mediterranean summers. I painted the backgrounf wet-on-wet for a soft focus to give the illusion of distance. The granite formation was painted wet-on-dry for a crisp foreground look. I used a toothbrush to give the granite its textural character. The water is a combination of wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry with horizontal reflections pulled off with a bone dry, flat brush. I've posted this painting a few years back, but came across it again in my computer photo file and thought I'd post it again. That's kosher, ain't it?

2 comments:

Autumn Leaves said...

Love the orange in the waters, David. Is that coming up from beneath or reflections from something out of view above? The sun kissed rocks in the distance are fabulous too!

David Lobenberg said...

The orangeish water is a reflection from a light source out of view. Could be a hovering UFO!